


Allways Thirteen

by lucidSeraph



Series: Violetesence [2]
Category: Homestuck, House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, F/M, Lovecraftian, Mindfuck, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-21
Updated: 2011-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-20 14:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/213947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidSeraph/pseuds/lucidSeraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In another universe, the player associated with Breath mixed up the meteors sending the kids to each of their parents, leading a few to be sent to the wrong ones. Thus, Rose grew up in the care of Mr. Egbert, Dave (or David, as he prefers to be called) with Ms. Lalonde, Jade with Bro's ironic shenanigans, and John under Becquerel's watchful eye. Here, David Lalonde has a conversation with a douchenozzle who types in white text, and then shit gets real.</p><p>Chapter 3 of Revolutions of Ruin.</p><p>AO3 still hasn't restored Violetesence to my account, so if you're staring at this going BZUH I suggest looking at the following link: http://archiveofourown.org/series/6075</p>
            </blockquote>





	Allways Thirteen

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Revolutions of Ruin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/172420) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



TT: I'll never understand how you can read that book over and over, David!  
TT: It's not even like the ending ever changes.  
TG: you mean like in your choose your own adventure books  
TT: Don't laugh! They're really pretty fun. You should try them sometime!  
TT: But yes, you see, every time you read one, you can take a different path! And even if you know all the endings, you can find different ways of getting there.  
TG: until youve found all the possible endings  
TG: then what  
TG: theres nothing left to find  
TT: You're still wrong there! See, you can always put them away for a few years, forget the whole thing...  
TT: Then you find them sitting on a shelf! And it's like a whole new adventure again.  
TT: Really, David, you just have to be creative about this sort of thing.  
TG: but thats the thing  
TG: this book has so many different layers  
TG: you can read it as a pure horror novel  
TT: I’m pretty sure that’s all it is.  
TG: no  
TG: because you can also interpret it that nothing in the navidson record is real  
TG: so johnnys just crazy  
TG: so its a journey for him coming to terms with his life  
TG: trying to find some way around the darkness  
TG: or you can say that zampano was real but the navidson record wasnt  
TG: and so its about zampano too  
TG: or maybe nothings real and its all in pelfinas head  
TG: and then theres meta interpretations  
TG: maybe its a postmodern horror novel  
TG: or maybe its a satire of literary criticism  
TT: To rephrase, making fun of pretentious postmodernist jerks. ;)   
TG: hey  
TG: it is a mark of greatness to be able to laugh at oneself  
TG: and i fully agree that i am pretty much the biggest asshat ever  
TG: i mean look at me i wrote a post-colonial feminist interpretation of twilight  
TG: just for you  
TG: that is how much i care about you okay  
TT: hee hee  
TT: But back to the previous point.  
TT: What do you think it’s about, Dave?  
TG: its  
TG: nevermind fine call me dave whatever  
TG: anyway  
TG: i do have my own theory yes  
TG: in the end its hard for most people to see and i know very few agree with me  
TG: but in the end the story is about one thing  
TG: its about  
TG: …  
TG: oh damn it brb mother requires assistance with the dishes  
TG: i dont know why she asks me i think this is some way of her passive aggressively bonding with me i dont even know rose  
TG: anyway ttyl  
TT: Oh man! :\  
TT: Well don’t think you’ve gotten out of this, young man! I’ll find out what the deal is someday. 

**months in the future  
but not many**

Your breath comes out white clouds and white flakes spiral down, the world washed out. The squeal of rusty gears sometimes breaks the silence, the background hum of barely operational machinery fills your ears, and your footsteps are slowly buried as the minutes pass. Soon, there won’t be any trace of your presence here at all. You are a dark shadow, a stain on the whiteness. Your various pages and vassals follow in your wake, Wiglaf the turtle at their head, the others not far behind.

You sit down cross-legged, gathering your cloak around you. White flakes catch in your already pale hair, and you think, for a moment, if you simply stood still here, you’d turn to glass.

But you cannot. You have work to do.

TG: i am quite nearly freezing to death  
TG: ive been quite patient with you  
TG: saintly even  
TG: considering how rude you were to me before  
TG: so when are you going to spill the rest  
Now.  
TG: good  
TG: i dont have time for your stupid mind games  
TG: lets cut straight to the chase

Unfortunately for you, your informant has a fondness for mindgames, and you spend the next several pages engaging in them, must to your consternation. For the sake of the fourth wall, we will simply sit here for a moment, and imagine what that conversation was like against the backdrop of quivering and slowly dying reptiles shuffling about in the snow, against the slow ticking of gears and the soft sound of snowfall. An uneasy note is produced. It’s the one trepidation plays to make sure you’re still awake and listening.

Are you?

Good. Then pay attention.

You are situated near the game construct supplied by your session for causing the Scratch, yes?  
TG: dont put question marks on the ends of sentences that arent questions  
TG: i really do not have time for your games  
You’re no fun at all.  
TG: no im a barrel of laughs  
TG: a veritable barge of mirth  
TG: but not when the lives of everyone i love lie at stake  
TG: point being i dont need to tell you that im near the rhythm axe  
TG: i get the impression that a gigantic steampunk axe/guitar hybrid made from ruined gears isnt the usual configuration for this device  
There is no usual configuration for the device.  
That being said, it will always be an edifice of similarly cryptic design, located on the planet that is home to the Hero of Time.  
Its environment dictates the nature of its construction. Its power is dangerous, and is meant to be utilized only in emergencies such as yours.   
TG: so what youre saying is that the game generating an unstoppable adversary who triggers the reckoning prematurely happens all the time  
TG: i swear this game is broken beyond belief  
TG: how does anyone win  
I hardly said that.  
True, this sort of event has happened more frequently of late, due to a phenomenon I call a resonance cascade. One signature event occurs in one universe, and its effects become reflected across multiple timelines. In this case, the timeline of origin suffered a similar catastrophic failure, and other sessions have been affected.  
TG: so essentially our failure is due to a bunch of idiots in another universe  
That is more true than you think, but in a different way than you assume.  
TG: not helpful  
You could show a little patience.  
TG: you could be less of an insufferable prick  
That title belongs to another. As I was saying. Failure is far more common. But despite there being more than one instance of it, catastrophic failure of this magnitude is rather atypical.   
TG: so how do i cause it  
It must be done in a quite specific way. Jade’s brother has already begun the process for you.   
TG: then how do i finish it  
It isn’t your task.  
You have a more important one.  
TG: ah yes  
TG: my delightful suicide swan dive into the green sun  
TG: and i dont feel like attaching the .gif file to make that flicker so deal with it  
You were going to wait till after Rose had the Tumor. Your plans will need to change.  
Now isn’t the time to cause the Scratch.  
TG: what are you supposed to do anyway  
You’ll need a hammer of sufficient strength to shatter the device completely.  
TG: that doesnt seem much like a scratch  
TG: it also doesnt provide enough room for endless puns on the nature of this place as a game  
This session has to play a little more fast and loose with those sorts of things.   
TG: point being john has a hammer   
That will not be sufficient. The Denizen of Rose’s land has the hammer necessary in this case.   
TG: this is more complex than you had led me to believe  
I didn’t lead you to believe anything. You charged ahead with little thought for rhyme or reason, simply pushing as hard as you could for your desired result with little thought for consequence.   
TG: fuck you  
Thank you, but no.  
TG: ok wiseass back to the task at hand  
TG: so im going to assume we cause the scratch - or the break i guess is a better term  
TG: fuck it im calling it the break now  
TG: anyway im going to assume we cause the break later then  
TG: and use it to banish jack to the trolls session  
Jack will exit your session, but it will have nothing to do with the Scratch. Not directly, at any rate.  
TG: what the fuck  
TG: i thought that was why i was doing this  
TG: to banish the demon to another realm  
TG: break reality and get rid of him  
Once again, your desperation is dictating your actions. You are panicking, which is, to be fair, in part because you are not a Seer, but a Knight. You draw conclusions without bothering with the rest of the facts.  
But as your Seer has a different task in this timeline, and as your roles have different functions, I must make do with what I have. Luckily, I don’t even have to train you to ask the right questions. You like getting to the point.  
I’ll help you along though. A true knight, to be able to properly protect his companions, must have access to all the information. Though one of your sources is quite reliable, the others are not.   
TG: the trolls  
TG: i figured they were full of shit  
TG: simply because they beat the game   
Precisely.  
TG: then what does it do  
It resets the game.  
TG: so not even new game plus i take it  
TG: we simply begin again from the start with no knowledge of how to proceed  
TG: thats helpful  
No.  
The release of temporal energy will be quite massive.  
This is a hard reset. It will reboot the conditions in your universe well before you began playing the game.  
You will have lived different lives after the reset. The different initial conditions will ideally lead to a more favorable scenario in the new session.  
Unfortunately, you will have no memory of anything that has happened in the session you are in now.   
TG: What the fucking shit.  
TG: Look, I’m using proper punctuation and capitalization to express my utter table-flipping abject horror and rage at the shit you just spewed across my screen.  
TG: You’re telling me that this thing, this thing I had so naively - yes, naively, thank you, you egregious omniscient douchewad - assumed would save us will in fact kill us all.  
TG: Wait.  
TG: Is this anything like that doomed timeline?  
TG: Where I was able to keep memories of it?  
I feel rather disinclined to tell you anything after that outburst, young man.  
TG: Don’t you fucking ‘young man’ me.  
TG: Don’t.  
TG: Let me tell you this. If there were some way to cross the vastness of spacetime, crack your smug skull - or whatever it is you have for a head - open and draw the data out? I’d do it.  
TG: I don’t have time for your coy bullshit. And you don’t have time for my rage.  
TG: You want me to kill you faster? Then start talking faster.   
We’re not going to get anywhere if you keep that kind of attitude.  
Remember: I have no care for what does or doesn’t happen to you, other than that I want you to destroy the Green Sun and end my life.  
Choose your words wisely.   
TG: very well  
TG: is there a way to keep our memories  
No. This timeline will undergo such a violent upheaval that a merger of memory cannot happen.  
You will be resigned to absolute oblivion.  
Unless you can discover a way to preserve yourselves.  
But it's not really my place to advise you on that.  
After you have dealt with the Scratch and the sun, what happens to you is not any of my business.

You pause for a few moments, and take the time to scream and bury your face in the snow. This is the most frustrating, will-breaking conversation you’ve yet had. All your carefully laid plans. All your assumptions. Everything you’d worked for turned to dust by a few simple words. By a few misconceptions. You suppose it’s no one’s fault but your own and yet you cannot help it.

You hate this game. You hate it and everything it stands for.

It’s a fucking deathtrap. They say it births new worlds and all it does is break you and everyone you love. Every thing you love. 

You could lay this world to waste.

Perhaps you still will...

TG: if this is going to kill us all why do it  
Because you cannot achieve the ultimate reward in this session.  
Your battlefield is cancerous, and the reckoning will destroy it prematurely regardless.  
By resetting, you will create a session which can bear the fruit of a new universe, even if you will not be the ones to claim the reward.   
TG: Well, sorry, but I’m a selfish bastard, and maybe I want us to live.  
TG: I guess we have no choice though, do we.  
TG: We reset the session, we cease to exist.  
TG: We keep fighting, the world rots, and we die here.  
TG: Which was all predestined since before we were born.  
TG: What’s the fucking point of it all?  
TG: Don’t answer that. Not that you would.   
You’d doom the universe to oblivion for the sake of your pride?  
TG: Is it so wrong, to want to live?  
It’s selfish, to not want to fufill your ultimate purpose in life.  
TG: Maybe I don’t want to fufill any purpose.  
TG: Maybe I didn’t sign onto this of my own volition.  
TG: Maybe I’m tired of being destiny’s puppet. Maybe I’d rather break the system entirely than see it perpetuated in such a cruel way.  
Do you think you’re the only creature who has ever suffered and died for reasons you feel to be irrelevant?  
Do you truly feel that your planet was ended before it reached its true glory?  
Your world existed for 4.5 billion years.  
The trolls’ even longer.  
And yet you continue to think that your life is somehow more important than those who might come out of a new universe. Or who went before in your own.  
TG: My life isn’t important.  
But your friends’ are. At least, in your estimation.  
The truth is that you are little more than tools to be used.  
TG: I’m going to enjoy killing you more than I should.  
We should return to the question at hand. You asked if there was a way to preserve memories through sessions.  
Normally, there is not.  
But an individual in the session prior to yours attempted to do so, and there are other methods beyond the one he used. Dire methods.  
You’re privy to two such recordings yourself.  
TG: Session... prior to ours?   
Your session is the result of a scratched session.  
Specifically, one where someone took care to ensure certain parallelisms.  
I’m not sure why he bothered. It seems to have only doomed you a second time. The same cancer. The same unstoppable adversary.  
But perhaps he was like you.  
Perhaps he was afraid to die.  
TG: I’m not afraid.  
On the contrary.  
It is the thing you fear second most in this world.  
The first is the deaths of your friends.  
The point being, you are incredulous.  
As I said though, he provided some ways of preservation. Instead of a true hard reset, he managed to simply ensure that the game data was deleted, thus making certain that the data remained in some form on the drive. Essentially, he removed the directory data, allowing it to be overwritten, meaning that certain elements still fell into grooves on the disk. Remixed, resorted, but there.  
This means that the data still remains in this ieteration, acessiable to you.  
I’ve given you one of my seeds. In most cases, you, as a Knight, would be unable to use it.  
But it is the providence of the Light players to use their element to look within.  
Normally, it only answers questions.  
But it can also open gates.   
TG: youve given me your spooge and you want me to gaze deep into it to see the past  
I see you’ve dropped your capitalization again.  
TG: this is the sound of my disdain for what you just did  
TG: and me temporarily recovering my composure  
TG: how do i read this thing  
Be creative.

You gingerly observe the sphere, holding it at arm’s length. Did he really have to call it his _seed_? You consider your options, and eventually your gaze falls upon your shield -- the Lensing Aegis. You haven’t used it often, finding that your combat style relies more upon sheer power and speed. But you’ve kept it anyway, as it was made from the remnants of your mother’s telescope, the tool by which she used to plumb the secrets of the stars.

I’m your mother.

You arrange the lens above the device, peering into its surface.

 ** > Ask. **

“Who was I in the life before this?”

Warning. Previous save state you are accessing contains corrupted data.

Recommend opening in read-only state.

 ** > Open file**

Accessing previous save.  
Loading data.  
Access compÐ1ÙãåÏuá

you

fall through whiteness

as everything you are

is

undone

and then redone

remade

reconstructed

you are unraveled

all you were erased

all you are remade

you feel your memories melt into his own  
a thousand images --  
winters of frost and shadow  
words on your tongue  
and your mother  
you were always standing in her shadow and a blind revulsion later broken  
you crackle and drown in darkness and at once you

wake

up

you feel his memories melt into your own  
a thousand images --  
summers of fire and sun  
music in your veins  
and your brother,  
you were always running to catch up and a blind devotion later broken,  
you crackle and drown in whiteness and at once you

wake

up

  


facedown in snow, trembling and shaking, but you can't stop now.

You can't.

You crawl back to your laptop and place quivering fingers on the keys.

| 

>Warning. Previous save state you are accessing contains corrupted data.

Recommend opening in read-only state.

 ** > Open file**

Accessing previous save.  
Loading data.  
Access compÐ1ÙãåÏuá

 **mu×]uï}½ï]x×MwÛou are now DAVE STRIDER.  
**

Your shirt was white, once. White and red. Now it’s just red, and not even a good red -- it’s stained a sticky dark that fades to brown where it’s had time to dry. You squint into the lurid red light of the Land of Heat and Clockwork, for even this level is enough to hurt your sensitive eyes, and your glasses hang broken off your face. That last encounter? Too close. Too _fucking_ close. You’re not sure if you’re lucky or unlucky to be alive.

No. No, you are sure. It’s the former. The blood you’re soaked in isn’t all your DISK RÈ̶̴͓̼͉͉̜̪͓͓̟͍͇̩͉͗̈ͩͪͪ̓̃ͪ̎̈́̑̐̽ͥ̎͒̓A̶̖̖̼̥ͬ̔̓͊ͭͬ̆̉̈́ͅḐ̶̴̹̼̩̝̖͍̠͈͕̣͓̻͈́̃ͯ̾͡ͅ ̿ͦͣ͂̚҉̬̲̱̪͕͖̩͚̘͍̬̣̦̗̩̖͍͜Ȩ͕͔̳̼ͪͬ̋̒̇͛̇ͦ̔̃́ͭ̒̆͋̌ͩͤ̉̀͜͞͡R̶̖͚̣̠͙͎͌͂ͫ̏ͥͨ͆͛ͫ͛͌̐ͫ̓̒̑́̚͟R̶̷̢̻͎̝͚̪̝̦̠͕͊̉ͣ̂͗̀͂̔͛̇Ơ̸̛̪̖̣͔̙̩̰͉͈͍̦̩̬̮ͧ̅̑̌̈́̀͡ͅͅͅR̷̤̼͇̪̬͚͇͈͙̘̣͎͈̹̣͚̞̯ͭ͗͗ͨͥ̾͘ soaks through your shoes and your socks and your stylish as fuck black jeans and you sink to your knees in it, that bright blue standing out in the middle, and you know, somehow, that this was a heroic death, because you can rewind and watch (but not interfere, you saw the body, the waveform’s collapsed) that he died defending his parents; further back still and he’s telling you on Pesterchum that Vriska told him which castle his parents were in and he died defending and you can’t DISK RÈ̶̴͓̼͉͉̜̪͓͓̟͍͇̩͉͗̈ͩͪͪ̓̃ͪ̎̈́̑̐̽ͥ̎͒̓A̶̖̖̼̥ͬ̔̓͊ͭͬ̆̉̈́ͅḐ̶̴̹̼̩̝̖͍̠͈͕̣͓̻͈́̃ͯ̾͡ͅ ̿ͦͣ͂̚҉̬̲̱̪͕͖̩͚̘͍̬̣̦̗̩̖͍͜Ȩ͕͔̳̼ͪͬ̋̒̇͛̇ͦ̔̃́ͭ̒̆͋̌ͩͤ̉̀͜͞͡R̶̖͚̣̠͙͎͌͂ͫ̏ͥͨ͆͛ͫ͛͌̐ͫ̓̒̑́̚͟R̶̷̢̻͎̝͚̪̝̦̠͕͊̉ͣ̂͗̀͂̔͛̇Ơ̸̛̪̖̣͔̙̩̰͉͈͍̦̩̬̮ͧ̅̑̌̈́̀͡ͅͅͅR̰̮̬̥̤̩̞̰͓ͣͥ̈́̽͜͟͞ Rose, her skin black, lying nearby him; you didn’t see that but you figure she was trying to avenge DISK RÈ̶̴͓̼͉͉̜̪͓͓̟͍͇̩͉͗̈ͩͪͪ̓̃ͪ̎̈́̑̐̽ͥ̎͒̓A̶̖̖̼̥ͬ̔̓͊ͭͬ̆̉̈́ͅḐ̶̴̹̼̩̝̖͍̠͈͕̣͓̻͈́̃ͯ̾͡ͅ ̿ͦͣ͂̚҉̬̲̱̪͕͖̩͚̘͍̬̣̦̗̩̖͍͜Ȩ͕͔̳̼ͪͬ̋̒̇͛̇ͦ̔̃́ͭ̒̆͋̌ͩͤ̉̀͜͞͡R̶̖͚̣̠͙͎͌͂ͫ̏ͥͨ͆͛ͫ͛͌̐ͫ̓̒̑́̚͟R̶̷̢̻͎̝͚̪̝̦̠͕͊̉ͣ̂͗̀͂̔͛̇Ơ̸̛̪̖̣͔̙̩̰͉͈͍̦̩̬̮ͧ̅̑̌̈́̀͡ͅͅͅR̰̮̬̥̤̩̞̰͓ͣͥ̈́̽͜͟͞ a diamond-dazzed Dersite deemed the damsel a detriment, keeping the kingslayer leashed, jesus fuck the rhythm comes to you and all you can do is stare at her, , stare at what’s left of her, you can’t believe, you’re dying inside. The worst part was? You feel part of it was your fault. She went to find the Quills of Echidna, and the fight was fierce and while she was weary from the battle, he came for her. He came, and you weren’t there, because you were DISK R̡̡̭̥̹̹̳̟̳͍̯̹͕̂̉̄̓ͫ̾È̶̴͓̼͉͉̜̪͓͓̟͍͇̩͉͗̈ͩͪͪ̓̃ͪ̎̈́̑̐̽ͥ̎͒̓A̶̖̖̼̥ͬ̔̓͊ͭͬ̆̉̈́ͅḐ̶̴̹̼̩̝̖͍̠͈͕̣͓̻͈́̃ͯ̾͡ͅ ̿ͦͣ͂̚҉̬̲̱̪͕͖̩͚̘͍̬̣̦̗̩̖͍͜Ȩ͕͔̳̼ͪͬ̋̒̇͛̇ͦ̔̃́ͭ̒̆͋̌ͩͤ̉̀͜͞͡R̶̖͚̣̠͙͎͌͂ͫ̏ͥͨ͆͛ͫ͛͌̐ͫ̓̒̑́̚͟R̶̷̢̻͎̝͚̪̝̦̠͕͊̉ͣ̂͗̀͂̔͛̇Ơ̸̛̪̖̣͔̙̩̰͉͈͍̦̩̬̮ͧ̅̑̌̈́̀͡ͅͅͅR worse than when you faced your brother’s corpse, there’s nothing left now. Terezi messaged you a while back:

GC: 1TS R34LLY COLORFUL SM3LL1NG BUT 1M SC4R3D  
GC: 3V3RYON3S D34D D4V3  
GC: OR W3 W1LL B3 SOON  
GC: 1 COULDNT DO 1T  
TG: jesus fuck i thought you were all about the proud warrior race guy bullshit  
TG: or no more like the shitstain crazy warrior race bullshit  
TG: so you couldnt show her your stabs and now shes going to lead a fucking unstoppable demon to you  
GC: Y3P  
GC: 1 C4N SM3LL TH3 SOUR 4PPL3 NOW 4CTU4LLY   
TG: welp

You say welp, but in reality you're shaking. You won't cry, you refuse (fuck that noise) but everyone you love is dead. Everyone. You beg for this to be a doomed timeline, but you can feel it isn't. This is the fucking alpha.

GC: H3Y D4V3?  
TG: yeah  
GC: 1M R34LLY GL4D YOU W3R3 MY COOLK1D >:]  
GC: BY3

\-- user gallowsCalibrator [GC] has gone idle -- 

And that's that. And that's. That.  
And that’s that. And that’s. That.  
You’re not Rose. You can’t go all rage and fury and determination to solve everything. You’re not the hero. You just roll with the punches. You try not to think about this shit and just go along, taking everything as it goes, riding the flow, only barely in the know, relying on wits...  
No. No more. You can’t. You stagger to your feet and barely rewind in time to avoid Jack. He can’t kill what he can’t catch; not in the past. So you ride. You slide. And you find Rose’s corpse and you take her wands and her wearable off it and you scroll through white text dick’s words. The Scratch, it seems is DISK̼͚͉͉̳̗̣̤͍͌̌̈́̿͛ͩͦ̋̑́ͅ ͑ͩ̅̆͑ͥ͗̀̍͆̃̒̋ͧ̓́̑̓͏͓̠̹̩̺̮͔̻̫͔͕̙͔̹̮̞͎̫͈R̡̡̭̥̹̹̳̟̳͍̯̹͕̂̉̄̓ͫ̾È̶̴͓̼͉͉̜̪͓͓̟͍͇̩͉͗̈ͩͪͪ̓̃ͪ̎̈́̑̐̽ͥ̎͒̓A̶̖̖̼̥ͬ̔̓͊ͭͬ̆̉̈́ͅḐ̶̴̹̼̩̝̖͍̠͈͕̣͓̻͈́̃ͯ̾͡ͅ ̿ͦͣ͂̚҉̬̲̱̪͕͖̩͚̘͍̬̣̦̗̩̖͍͜Ȩ͕͔̳̼ͪͬ̋̒̇͛̇ͦ̔̃́ͭ̒̆͋̌ͩͤ̉̀͜͞͡R̶̖͚̣̠͙͎͌͂ͫ̏ͥͨ͆͛ͫ͛͌̐ͫ̓̒̑́̚͟R̶̷̢̻͎̝͚̪̝̦̠͕͊̉ͣ̂͗̀͂̔͛̇Ơ̸̛̪̖̣͔̙̩̰͉͈͍̦̩̬̮ͧ̅̑̌̈́̀͡ͅͅͅR̰̮̬̥̤̩̞̰͓ͣͥ̈́̽͜͟͞ and you’re bleeding to death yourself.  
But you don’t need to live for much longer.  
You have a plan. You move the beat, you change the gears, you rewind back and forth, learning the damn thing’s secrets and plumb it until it makes sense, and in the past the ghosts of your friends message you but you ignore them, you ignore your past self because nothing can be done. You work. You change. Maybe if you all can remember something in the next game, maybe if something’s preserved then you’ll stand a chance.  
Too late now. Showtime.  
You step across the Beat Mesa and you hold the wands in your hands. You close your eyes and you feel the rhythm and the beat all around. You raise them to the sky and the3927u nkaÇÉ¼¦çGVº6Ý@; 5:åthunder½((þ:GstrikingÀ¼ÔuÐ1ÙãåÏuáÞ  
  
---|---  
TG: what the fuck was that  
TG: what did you do to me  
Do to you?  
I did very little.  
I merely triggered what was already there. Restored the old data, as it were.  
TG: this session is a scratched session  
TG: there was  
TG: no i understand i  
TG: but why did it fail  
TG: because we didnt remember  
TG: we didnt remember the details  
TG: were all the same fucking people who make the same mistakes  
TG: we are only revolutions of ruin  
TG: but if we scratch again whats to say the same wont happen  
TG: whats to say  
TG: whats...  
I admit, my conversation with the Hero of Light in a parallel timeline closest to this one was far more pleasant. I have no soft spot for young boys. Indeed, I find them quite irritating. However, circumstances have conspired to force me to contact you, and I have no use for speaking with this universe's Rose or Jade.  
Thankfully, given certain circumstances in your universe, there are conclusions you have already drawn. You are already aware that the black blade you carry is merely a focus and only circumstantially connected to the terrible power you now wield. You are already aware of the black claws that have taken their fell grip upon your soul. In some ways, you're a better Seer than the Seer. In others, you are even more ignorant.  
TG: are you finished yet telling me things i already know  
TG: which in turn facilitate some end that i in my pathetic mortal state cannot comprehend  
TG: really this is turning into a great game of i know you know i know you know  
TG: i know that i cannot dissuade you from whatever prattle youll throw at me  
TG: and you know that my answers will continue to be sarcastic  
TG: until they are not for whatever reason  
TG: if they are not  
TG: really this whole thing is tiresome dont you think  
Why haven't you given in to her power yet?  
TG: because i value my will  
TG: because i dont think i should have to  
TG: given that you already know what im thinking and given that this conversation is meant not to inform anyone but to lead me to conclusions of my own accord  
TG: i see no reason to hide this from you  
TG: because i am afraid of what she will do to me should i give in to her power  
Which is wise of you. But there are other reasons. The main one is oddly due to her own actions. She buffered you against your mother's death, in a way; she lent you the strength to resist crumbling to dust as you faced that fact down, as did your troll friends, as did your sister, in her own way. The reason that previous Hero of Light gave in was out of pure desperation and desire for vengeance.  
But you.  
You don't have such a trigger.  
Yet.  
You’re very close, of course. The sheer hopelessness of your situation weighs on your mind. You feel that this game itself is a lie, a trap designed to grind the players into dust, a parasite that feeds to give itself new life.  
You’re not entirely incorrect, either.  
TG: and now you reveal to me something intended to trigger my fell transformation despite the fact that you have warned me against it  
TG: doubtless to further your own mysterious and complex designs that will ultimately bring about the summoning of your master  
TG: here id scream defiance at you and state that i shall not give in and i will resist  
TG: but to do so will be pointless because youll sit there smugly and inform me that it is all useless  
TG: i will resist regardless  
TG: but you knew this  
TG: and i know it too  
TG: i remember now  
You see, this is why you're no fun at all.

You take the infernal cueball and set it on the snowbank, then pull your blade back and thwack it like a golfball. It sails into the snowy abyss, white on white. Somehow, it feels satisfying, this one tiny act of defiance. You return to your conversation.

TG: i have relieved myself of your seed  
TG: which by the way from my cultural perspective  
TG: that was disgusting  
TG: now  
TG: drop your little bomb  
Have you talked to John lately?  
TG: no why  
You should.   
TG: im tired of talking to you anyway

You hadn’t planned on talking to John until much later, but now it seems pertinent. You answer his pester.

TG: apologies for the late reply  
TG: i was held up by an egregious douchebag  
GT: dave!  
GT: finally man.  
GT: who were you even talking to?  
GT: whoever it was made you really mad there for a bit!  
GT: i dont think ive ever seen you so angry jeez.  
TG: ah yes  
TG: i forgot  
TG: rose gave her the code for her orb of many winds  
TG: and i my lensing aegis  
TG: still i apologize for the delay  
GT: dude i dont blame you :(  
GT: youre probably still really screwed up i mean...  
GT: i actually thought that was why you were mad.  
TG: you thought what was why  
TG: what  
GT: wait.  
GT: you mean you don’t know?  
GT: oh god oh man oh god i thought you’d have known by now! the whole light thing i mean oh shit D:   
TG: for god’s sake man spill it  
GT: it’s rose dave.  
GT: rose went and found your parents after all.  
TG: shit  
TG: i told her not to i told her to avoid jack  
TG: shes ok right  
GT: oh god oh man oh god oh man  
GT: oh god  
GT: i mean i thought you knew fuck  
GT: i’m so sorry dave D: jack came up behind her.  
GT: she didn’t even see it coming.  
GT: i mean i’m really fucked up over this too i’m just hoping there’s some way to  
GT: dave?  
GT: dave answer me DAVE  
GT: dave get back to the computer.  
GT: dave listen to me what the hell are you doing!?  
GT: dave i was about to say i think i found some info about the god tiers, something vriska told me?  
GT: i dont think they can die if its not heroic or just, i think she might come back and even if she doesnt i mean we can try the corpsesmooch anyway?  
GT: … dave.  
GT: dave im really really serious right now man seriously what the fuck are you doing.  
GT: dave you’re my best friend --   
It cannot be stopped.   
GT: dave!? dave! dave why is the screen going black what did you do!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?  
GT: DAVE!

 ** > Knight: Break.**

The snow falls around you in slow circles. You stand at the edge of a cliff, staring out over the abyss below the great axe buried in the ground. Flakes of rust catch in your hair. A fitful wind stirs.

It becomes obvious, then, with further analysis. The game is indeed a creation myth, but with an unusual twist: the acknowledgement that creation goes hand in hand with destruction. To give birth to new life, old life must be destroyed.  
But does that old life deserve destruction? Here is a tale of children tricked -- like all good fairy tales, the children go into the woods, but they do not come out. They are eaten by the witches, destroyed and devoured. From their bones and ash spring flowers, and a new myth is created.

My poor, dear David; sacrificial lamb, spread across the altar, heart laid to be taken.  
But if your heart’s to be taken and offered to the gods of chance and consequence, why not take control of how? 

Fuck the game.

We contend that there is a choice. 

Die for the sake of birthing a world you’ll never see, or go out like a flame, defying the whole steaming shithouse mess. 

The choice is yours.

“It may be the wrong decision...”

The power was within you all along. But you knew this. You just had to reach out... and take it.

You take your sword. You have known for some time that the weapon itself is meaningless -- it is only a symbol. She is here now. She has always been here.

You just have to open the gates.

 _If you’re going to be a sacrificial lamb..._

“But fuck it.

” **It's mine. "**

The blade does not pierce your heart or sink into your flesh. It melts like water, the black lines spreading out from the impact point. You feel a door (a white door, with a glass handle) open inside your soul and you feel a fridgid blackness open within you. You gasp for breath, but there is none to be found. Your skin turns black and ιt getѕ The blade does not pierce your heart or sink into your flesh. It melts like water, the black lines spreading out from the impact point. You feel a door (a white door, with a glass handle) open inside your soul and you feel a fridgid blackness open within you. You gasp for breath, but there is none to be found. Your skin turns black and ιt getѕ 3j2%Jmcol3dANe fsad c3VkZGVu bHkgeW91IHVuZGVy c3RhbmQgamF jayBzaGl0

I’ll take it from here.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, AO3 still hasn't restored the rest of my fic.
> 
> Editing this was a BITCH AND A HALF, btw


End file.
